In the early afternoon of Thursday 4 February, Moroccan authorities raided a Christian home in Amizmiz with an overwhelming number of officials. They arrested 18 Moroccans and an American visitor and interrogated them for 14 hours. Among them were 2 six month old babies and 3 infants in the age up to 4 years old.
The Moroccan Christian Leader, who requested to be unnamed, informed Open Doors that they were very surprised by the unusually large raiding party. Some 60 officers arrived in over 15 cars, mostly four wheel drives, in their village about 55 km south of Marrakech. The raiding group was led by a colonel and two captains but also the caïd of Amizmiz (district officer), sheikh (subdistrict officer) and muqaddam (local functionary) were present.
All Moroccans, including the children, and the US citizen were taken to a police station. During all investigations they have been pictured and filmed by video and photo cameras as well as with mobile phones.
The interrogation took 14 hours, starting from 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon until 4 o’clock in the early Friday morning. Several materials were seized and not handed back after the questioning was over, among it are personal Bibles, songbooks, 2 laptops, a cell phone and a digital photo camera.
After the hearing, the Moroccans were free to go, but the US citizen was deported to the airport immediately, having to leave his laptop with the authorities.
After previous raids on Christian meetings in March and December 2009 in Morocco, this is the third time a meeting of Christians is forcibly put to an end. The Moroccan leader of the Christian group said after his release: “It is the first time in our current Moroccan Church history that the government used such a legion to attack a small group of Christians that have a meeting.” Adding later on: “I think that even against Muslim fundamentalists this number [of police officers] was never used by the Moroccan government.”
The Maghreb Arabe Press (MAP) reports from a statement of the Interior Ministry that “the [foreign] missionary targeted a group of 14 Moroccan nationals for recruitment. The operation of the security services took place following information on the organization of a secret meeting to initiate people into Christianity, which would shake Muslims’ faith and undermine the Kingdom’s religious values.”
Upon entering the house, it appears there is no written order for this operation: “they kept repeating that this was Rabat [Morocco’s capital] asking them to do this and that the new Moroccan minister of Justice personally ordered to do this and also the highest General of Gendarmerie, Housni Benslimane” the Moroccan leader said.
“The real heroes certainly are the babies and children” the leader concludes, “for being arrested and held by the Moroccan Government for 14 hours”. Please pray for peace in the hearts of those who have been arrested and pray for the future of the Church in Morocco.